My experience at today's Paul Ryan event

Sunday morning, I got an email with a link to get some tickets to a campaign rally with Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan for Tuesday.  I've never been to a political event before, but I've never been this pleased with a national candidate, either, so I decided to go.  The event was to be at the Westlake Recreation Center, somewhere I know pretty well from delivering pizzas there.  I wasn't sure how many tickets were given out or how many would be there, but it became apparent as I turned onto Hilliard Blvd.  Cars were lined up on both sides of Hilliard and all through the surrounding neighborhoods, I ended up parking about a mile away.  There was some security we had to go through to get into the Rec Center, comparable to what you might go through at the airport.  The Plain Dealer estimated the crowd in the gym at about 2,000 people, which sounds like a reasonable guess to me.   

The Mayor of Westlake was already speaking when I found a place behind some very short old ladies by the west wall of the gym.  After him, the mayor of Brecksville came and said a few things.  As you might expect from being in a gymnasium with 2,000 people, it was incredibly humid.  Just before noon (when the rally was scheduled to begin), a secret service agent came and stood right next to us for a few minutes.  I'm glad they're there, but his proximity fed my suspicion that I'm on the President's enemies list for my facebook statuses and past blog postings.  One of the old ladies approached him, asking him how to turn her cell phone ringer off (as if anyone could have possibly heard it).  He quickly showed her how and promptly left for another position.  At about 12:15 PM, Congressman Renacci (freshman from Medina, serves on the budget committee chaired by Ryan) came out to introduce the Vice Presidential candidate.

Ryan began by laying out the case against President Obama's governance.  The way he did it was compelling, not through meaningless mean-spirited attacks and accusations, but with facts and statistics, specifically when he compared the economic numbers today with those of 1980, the final year of the Carter administration.  The numbers are the numbers.  Foreclosures, bankruptcies, unemployment, increased poverty, 16 trillion in debt, trillion dollar deficits, downgraded credit rating, etc, etc.  A free thinking individual can't argue with those facts, which is why during the Democrat Convention this week we should expect to hear about Romney's money, free birth control and of course, racism!

At the mention of the credit rating downgrade, a young man up front (who apparently had to crawl out of his basement this morning to collect his paycheck from George Soros) began shouting, but was promptly drowned by a sea of USA chants and escorted out by law enforcement.  They marched him out just a few feet in front of us, looking as if he was about tear up.

 

Surrounded by a few thousand of his fellow racists, Ryan followed up his indictment of the President with his reasons why Romney's resume and record make him the man to turn America around.  This was also compelling--Romney is undoubtedly a successful and accomplished man with experience in the private and public sectors.  The final leg of his speech was devoted to the idea of America.  His proclamation that "we will not replace our founding principles, we will reapply them" triggers bright light and Hallelujah choruses in my head.  Unquestionably the loudest applause during the whole event came when Ryan said "our rights come from nature and from God, not from government."  Ryan spoke for only twenty minutes, which seemed to fly by despite the uncomfortable atmosphere of the gym.

Walking back to the car, we were met by protesters!  They had signs and marching around in a 10 foot circle crying "Hands off our Medicare!  Hands off our Medicare!".  Of course, given the age of these folks and the current projection of when Medicare becomes insolvent, Medicare will be gone decades before they can get it.  I didn't count how many there were, but it was the equivalent of how many people show up to Indians Opening Day to protest the use of the name "Indians".  I almost shook my fist and told them to get a job, but they have a job, as a protester earning cigarettes from one of the Soros front groups.

In all, it was an interesting American political experience, and given how close and how important Ohio is to this election and the future of the country, there should be many more opportunities to engage the candidates before November 6.  Consider doing so.